Sparrow vs Electrum for desktop

[apogio]

Don't tell me that you figured out how to spend to multiple addresses in Electrum but you failed to do that in Sparrow wallet because I found it hard to do that in Electrum and also I remember that you liked the UI and UX of Sparrow.
P.S. Thanks to @satscraper for explanation but I'll leave the images down below for those who might have the same question and need a graphical guidance.

I didn't search a lot. I don't have access to my computer since the beginning of the year and I thought about asking it here.

I have never used this option with Sparrow.

Nevermind, I have found it thanks to the previous answer.

The problem with OP_RETURN still remains with Sparrow though.

[1714989857]

1714989857

[satscraper]

Sparrow creates wallets in the new, descriptor-type format, which is extremely flexible for scripting and at the same time very handy at their transferal and/or backup/restoring.

Electrum (at the moment) uses the old, key-based wallet architecture, which seems will get oblivion as the time passes.

Besides, Sparrow's GUI is more straightforward and easy to use.

[apogio]

Let me bring this topic up again. You have been very helpful so far and now I come with another question.
When you create a wallet with Sparrow, it allows you to import an Electrum keystore.
When you create a wallet with Electrum, it allows you to import a BIP39 seed phrase.
So essentially, if I get it correctly, both these wallets allow you to import a seed phrase, no matter if it's a BIP39 one, or an Electrum one, but they only generate one of the two.
Having said that, the creation of the seed phrase is by definition a difference between the two wallets.
Having read this topic on stacker.news and also having read this topic here on bitcointalk, I have come to a conclusion that BIP39 has some disadvantages that electrum seed phrases don't. Most importantly, the lack of versioning.
I know that the majority of people use BIP39 because most wallets are compatible with it. What are your thoughts?

[Forsyth Jones]

No, it's not only user friendly for those who use hardware wallets, it's user-friendly for everyone. Just take Electrum and Sparrow and put them next to each other. Sparrow outperforms Electrum in every possible way. Do you want to see a map of your transactions? Sparrow has a visually good map tree. It has many settings and features. I think that visually, aesthetically, Sparrow is superior. Electrum just reminds me very basic windows xp software.

I've already used both wallets, what I can say is that everything Electrum offers, Sparrow also offers.

The only negative point is the issue of the sparrow UI, I think that these large bluish selections don't match the rest of the wallet's design, I found it very contrasty.

However, electrum lets users export private keys, whereas in sparrow you must depend on a third party (iancoleman etc) to see a private key if you need it.

Electrum has a more dated look, but I like minimalism and retro, Electrum's UI reminds me of those old password manager software.

[apogio]

However, electrum lets users export private keys, whereas in sparrow you must depend on a third party (iancoleman etc) to see a private key if you need it.

Yes in electrum you can import and export private keys. I have asked in Sparrow support chat for a relevant feature, but they don't consider it a feature and, honestly, I understand why.
In fact, I support cold storage options and airgapped devices, so I never needed to know the exact private keys for backup.
Of course I have used both for hot storage too, but even with Electrum, I never needed to export my private keys. Just the mnemonic can do the job.
What I like about electrum though, is that it allows you to import (not only to sweep) a private key, essentially creating a hot wallet out of a single private key and a single address.
This feature is good, but of course it has many flaws, unless you know what you are doing.
The flaws include:
1. backup difficulty - storing private keys in WIF is difficult and not encouraged.
2. address reuse - possible privacy issues
3. compatibility - I think only electrum and bitcoin core support it.

[satscraper]

However, electrum lets users export private keys, whereas in sparrow you must depend on a third party (iancoleman etc) to see a private key if you need it.

Yes in electrum you can import and export private keys. I have asked in Sparrow support chat for a relevant feature, but they don't consider it a feature and, honestly, I understand why.

Because descriptors are more flexible than just private keys.

To import private key in Sparrow you may wrap that private key into the relevant descriptor and build a new wallet using that descriptor.

I have just did it using descriptor for xprv9s21ZrQH143K3QTDL4LXw2F7HEK3wJUD2nW2nRk4stbPy6cq3jPPqjiChkVvvNKmPGJxWUtg6Ln F5kejMRNNU3TGtRBeJgk33yuGBxrMPHi shown by achow101

Let me bring this topic up again. You have been very helpful so far and now I come with another question.
When you create a wallet with Sparrow, it allows you to import an Electrum keystore.
When you create a wallet with Electrum, it allows you to import a BIP39 seed phrase.
So essentially, if I get it correctly, both these wallets allow you to import a seed phrase, no matter if it's a BIP39 one, or an Electrum one, but they only generate one of the two.
Having said that, the creation of the seed phrase is by definition a difference between the two wallets.
Having read this topic on stacker.news and also having read this topic here on bitcointalk, I have come to a conclusion that BIP39 has some disadvantages that electrum seed phrases don't. Most importantly, the lack of versioning.
I know that the majority of people use BIP39 because most wallets are compatible with it. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, Electrum (default) and Sparrow differ in the ways they generate their SEED. There are pros and cons in both ways which were intensively discussed in this thread. and in comments on github. Concerning my personal view, I'm sympathiser of BIP 39, largely because it is standard for hardware wallets used by me for the stash  storing and management. Besides, I don't like Electrum's potential of  using the custom words list when creating the SEED. Weak SEED could result in the stash lost.

[cygan]

the Sparrow wallet version 1.8.3 was released today
numerous new things have been integrated as well as various bug fixes are available
you can find the whole changelog in the following link:
https://github.com/sparrowwallet/sparrow/releases/tag/1.8.3

and under this link you can download the latest version for your os:
https://sparrowwallet.com/download/

[dkbit98]

I've already used both wallets, what I can say is that everything Electrum offers, Sparrow also offers.

This is not exactly true as Electrum wallet has a whole section for Lightning Network and Sparrow wallet have no such thing.
I like Sparrow design more especially with transaction graph, and they can support coinjoin third party wallet integration, while you can't find such thing in Electrum.
Sparrow has better support for hardware wallets and signing devices, so there are pros and cons for both wallets, and they can be both used at the same time.
I think Lightning is going to be more important in future, and Sparrow developers should consider adding it.

[satscraper]

Usually I take my  time to update and, thus ,missed 1.8.3  but  new release was not be long in coming. v. 1.8.4 is available on the official github

• "Fix Monocle build issue in Sparrow Terminal release"
• "Show PGP primary key fingerprint in Signed By field tooltip"

Sparrow morphs into king of the soft wallets.